County Unemployment Rate Rises In December

January 27, 2013

The unemployment rate jumped 0.7 percent in Chautauqua County in December.

The rate increased to 8.9 percent, up from 8.2 percent in November. The rate is nearly 1 percent higher than it was in December 2011, when it was 8 percent, according to the state Labor Department.

The number of unemployed workers in the county also increased 9 percent in December. In November, there were 5,100 people unemployed. In December, the number grew to 5,600. Since last December, the number of unemployed people has increased 11 percent.

The amount of employed people decreased in December by 400. In November, there were 57,200 workers in the county. In December, the number of employed fell to 56,800.

The job sector with the largest decrease in employment in December was natural resources, mining and construction, which decreased by 9.1 percent. Manufacturing also decreased by 1 percent. The job sector with the largest growth was leisure and hospitality, which increased by 2 percent. Government employees also rose by 0.9 percent.

In December, the state's economy added 34,300 private-sector jobs. The addition brought the state's overall year-to-date private-sector job gain to 123,200. Additionally, the job growth resulted in New York reaching an all-time high private-sector job count of 7,353,000. Between November and December, the state's unemployment rate fell from 8.3 percent to 8.2 percent.

''The New York state economy closed out the year with 34,300 private-sector jobs added in December and 123,200 added to the state's economy in 2012,'' said Bohdan M. Wynnyk, state Division of Research and Statistics deputy director. ''In addition, the state's unemployment rate continued its downward trend in December.''

State job sectors with job gains since December 2011 included professional and business services, which added the most jobs with an increase of 47,900. Private educational and health services also increased, adding 33,800 jobs.

The state job sector with the largest decrease in jobs since last year was construction, which dropped 6,900 workers. There was also employment losses in the manufacturing sector, which lowered by 5,800 employees.